Drugs mule: Let me have space now

Michaella McCollum gave an interview to RTE, broadcast on Sunday, but in a letter via her solicitor she said that she does not see that further interviews would “serve any purpose”.

The Co Tyrone woman said that she “probably would have had a lot of blood on my hands” if she had managed to smuggle the Class A drugs to Europe.

However, she told the broadcaster that her decision to get involved in the plot was “a moment of madness”.

Legal firm KRW Law issued a statement yesterday which said: “In that interview she articulated her position very clearly, and in particular put on record her remorse for the shame she brought on herself and her family.

“She made her apology clearly and unequivocally. In the circumstances both she and her family take the view that taking part in further interviews will not serve any purpose at this stage.”

After her two years and three months in jail, she is awaiting the conditions of her parole.

McCollum and her family asked for reporters to “give them space and privacy to allow the next stages of the parole process to work through”.

The statement also said the firm would be issuing legal proceedings against an unnamed Irish daily newspaper over an alleged incident in which she was approached as she attempted to get into a taxi.

Melissa Reid, from Scotland, was imprisoned alongside McCollum in 2013, and remains in jail – though she is seeking to return to the UK to serve out her sentence.